Caribbean Ports Testing Requirements - How many and what cost?

[Megabear2]

It is under Preparing to sail tab. About halfway down in section entitled Covid-19 vaccine and testing requirements, second part for all other holidays from 25 September 2021 - 27 March 2022:

 

Currently, the majority of ports we visit this year do not require entry testing. For the latest information on the requirements of the ports we visit, click here. All requirements are subject to change. During your holiday, destinations on your itinerary may have various documentation requirements. 

[davecttr]

I see Marella are cancelling Caribbean cruises. Just to much hassle with the port testing requirements I guess.

[Megabear2]

The Marella 2 cruises were starting in Jamaica which nearly went on the red list at the last UK Government review and also they have places like Cuba on the cruise itineraries.  I assume P&O are intending to use their "normal" ports as they have a relationship that is well known with these countries and have their fingers crossed nothing rapidly changes.

 

I have always said I cannot see the Azura 10/11 December cruise not being at risk because of its unique itinerary.  The CDC in the US has nearly every Caribbean port on the do not travel list at present.  The danger to P&O appears to be if they take the ships over to Caribbean and the destinations slowly turn red for the UK Government.  

 

The cynic in me says because they committed to run these cruises they did not want to panic those booked before they had their money safely in the bank, and hence the last minute publication of these new protocols.  They have these 4 operational ships going into the winter and if they'd cancelled their 2 biggest money earners they would have had to find something to do with them over winter and hence their gamble to go ahead.  I think this could well be why they've ignored all pleas for information for so long.

[Castle25]

I dont get that people think it is ok for P&O to fundamentally change what was purchased and everyone is ok with it - not getting off unless on a tour and covid testing prior to/during/after is a BIG change, and P&O think it is ok for everyone to suck up the extra cost and not query it.   Seems very odd.

Waiting for a manager to call back as we would lose ALL of our money if we wanted to move the cruise to next year 

[lancashire_cruisers]

18 minutes ago, Castle25 said:

I dont get that people think it is ok for P&O to fundamentally change what was purchased and everyone is ok with it - not getting off unless on a tour and covid testing prior to/during/after is a BIG change, and P&O think it is ok for everyone to suck up the extra cost and not query it.   Seems very odd.

Waiting for a manager to call back as we would lose ALL of our money if we wanted to move the cruise to next year 

We’re in a global pandemic and the precautions and additional measures put in place are for the safety of passengers and crew not to intentionally upset people!

 

The world is very different from when you booked and you need to speak to P&O or your TA if you used one to discuss your options.

 

The requirement to be double jabbed has been in place for a while now and isn’t likely to change in the foreseeable.

[Megabear2]

I do not think it is okay, and never have. Back in July I started asking the questions relating to exactly what you state - that's exactly why I started this thread.  However when P&O chose to ignore/not answer my questions i took the decision not to pay my balance and move my Caribbean cruise so that i did not get into the position you now find yourself in.  I was not prepared to gamble on a relatively large sum of money being locked in to something I may not want or be able to use.  I did, however, decide to leave my relatively small advance payments on three other cruises.  It was really a matter of personal choice on risk that individuals had to make based on their perception of where things may head.

 

I feel for you if you are at risk of losing your money, and hope something may be done for you.

[Billish]

29 minutes ago, Castle25 said:

I dont get that people think it is ok for P&O to fundamentally change what was purchased and everyone is ok with it - not getting off unless on a tour and covid testing prior to/during/after is a BIG change, and P&O think it is ok for everyone to suck up the extra cost and not query it.   Seems very odd.

Waiting for a manager to call back as we would lose ALL of our money if we wanted to move the cruise to next year 

I don't think P&O are operating any differently to any other cruise company.  They are having to adapt to constantly changing circumstances and rules and regulations,  with changes often being made at very short notice. 

I do however,  believe that the communications from P&O have been abysmal, 

[Megabear2]

There are 41 Caribbean itineraries between October 2021 and March 2022. P&O would be hard pushed to find something useful for their ships to do if they didn't go there. Compare this with the sister company Cunard who have extended their payment dates but with far easier itineraries to manage and you will see the two P&O ships are more or less the bread winners for the company.  Perhaps this is what Molecrochip was hinting at when they said they wanted a cruise industry in two years time.

 

They have handled it badly from a public relations point of view that's for sure. Basically they have put all the onus on the customer without giving any updates of real relevance.

 

Castle25: You state you booked in 2019 before all this started.  Was this paid totally upfront at the point of booking or did you pay a deposit and then the balance by a requested date?  I am at a loss as to why if it is the latter you did not reschedule before locking yourself in, particularly if you could not/would not be vaccinated?

[bee-ess]

We are lucky that P&O allowed to move our payment date from Oct 3rd to Nov 3rd which gives us another month to make a decision. It will still be a tough decision to make. If the conditions on the weekly document shows it being the same or better than todays we will probably go but any worse and we probably won't.

I was expecting worse than the document shows and am trusting them to be truthful about it, the only bad hit seems to be the PCR test for Barbados fly-in but we were expecting several tests for the ports and apart from that the document  shows no tests, just Grenada undecided. At present we can get off in 4 ports which is better than I thought. Just have to wait and see what happens in the next 4-5 weeks.

Edited October 1, 2021 by bee-ess

[Son of Anarchy]

1 hour ago, Castle25 said:

I dont get that people think it is ok for P&O to fundamentally change what was purchased and everyone is ok with it - not getting off unless on a tour and covid testing prior to/during/after is a BIG change, and P&O think it is ok for everyone to suck up the extra cost and not query it.   Seems very odd.

Waiting for a manager to call back as we would lose ALL of our money if we wanted to move the cruise to next year 

I don't think anyone thinks that is ok for P&O to change what was purchased.  I certainly don't.

I doubt that anyone booked with other cruise thinks that is ok for those lines to change what they purchased.

I doubt that all the staff at CMV think it is ok for them to have all lost their jobs. 

And the same applies to the travel industry as a whole as well as pretty much everything else on the planet.

 

You chose to buy into what P&O were offering at that time.  If you did not foresee the pandemic, why should any other travel company?  If you did foresee the pandemic, why did you buy into something that you knew would be changed adversely?